


A Taste of Our Own Medicine

by nocturnalboys



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Aliens, I really don't know how to tag this tbh, M/M, Trans Male Character, definitely smut in there though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-17 16:29:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9333422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nocturnalboys/pseuds/nocturnalboys
Summary: Human beings film lesser animals all the time, narrating their every action; how would it feel to have the tables turned? Hakuryuu was about to find out just what being the star of a nature documentary is like.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I am so sorry for the poor tagging and what-not I just.. really don't know how to describe this at all :,)

The house was almost too normal, like a staged house from a sitcom set, props and conversation pieces placed according to the blueprints of a director. The room Hakuryuu woke in could have been anyone’s, though the clothes in the dresser fit him perfectly, though it was his medication and his testosterone needles and his scar cream on the end table. There was an emptiness about every object, from the bizarre lime green bedspread to the cup of perfectly sharpened no. 2 pencils on the desk near the window. It could have been anyone’s room, but it certainly wasn’t Hakuryuu’s. 

He’d come home from his internship one rainy February evening, ate two cups of microwavable Easy Mac, barely remembered to switch the laundry, and promptly fell asleep over the covers in his third floor apartment. But that was last night. Still wearing his intern outfit, short sleeved button down and worn khakis, he wandered the bedroom that was not his, wondering whether he had been drunk or was, in fact, losing his mind. 

He usually didn’t drink; he had a tendency to cry while drunk, even if he was only tipsy. Perhaps he sleep-walked, then. It was the only thing that made sense. He’d grabbed his clothes and medicine, and just wandered off to a suburb somewhere. Chalking it up to a freak incident, Hakuryuu peeked into the hallway. Where was the owner? He couldn’t have just stumbled upon an unowned home and waltzed right in. 

Against all odds, there was no one else but him. The floors were polished, the windows clear, like a housekeeper had just finished work. A television hung on the living room wall, but when Hakuryuu turned it on, only static flashed on the screen. No signal. He sat, slowly, on the tan faux leather couch in the living room. No photographs, no frames anywhere, but on the coffee table, a bowl of fresh fruit held a staring contest with Hakuryuu for a good 30 seconds before he broke his thousand yard gaze. 

No, it had to be that someone was playing an enormous, elaborate prank on him. He marched to the stairwell, hands on his hips. “Excuse me? If this is a joke, it’s not funny. Kouha, if you can hear me, this is definitely something you’d do. It was kind of laughable, but now it’s over.” He announced, his voice echoing out of the stairwell. When he received no response, he kicked the guard rail, stubbing his toe. 

That was it. Throwing open the front door, he stomped across the spring green lawn, kicking up tussocks of grass and uprooting flowers from the neatly kept mulch. “Hey! Hello?!” Now irate, bordering on furious, he detached his prosthetic and lobbed it at the front window as hard as he possibly could. It bounced off, doing no damage. “Okay, what the fuck?” Hakuryuu glared at the window, snatching up the discarded limb, which was quite heavy, and should have at least left a scratch. 

Clicking his prosthetic back in place, the nerves realigning, Hakuryuu turned, drinking in the neighborhood. None of the houses had cars, but all of them had the same eerie, cartoonish facade, like the scenery in The Simpsons, or King of the Hill. It was a bright, sunny day, with no humidity. Picking a direction, Hakuryuu started walking. He would walk until he found someone… or they found him. Either way. 

He turned a corner, spying a convenience store across the street. Not bothering to look both ways, he charged right through the automated doors. “Excuse me, but I-” He froze, realizing the store was empty. Shelves full of food, but no magazines or newspapers, and the cash register entirely unmanned. How far could he take this? If there was no one watching, he could just take all the money he wanted. He reached instinctively into his back pocket, fingers closing on his wallet.

Which was full of Monopoly money. No license, no organ donor card, and not a single real monetary note. He shook it upside down frantically, yellow and blue paper cash falling like confetti onto the tiled floor. Feeling like a child too immersed in a game of pretend, he picked up a handful of fake money, slamming it on the counter. “Yeah, hi, I’d like to order a huge cup of what the fuck is going on here?”

You could have heard a pin drop. Hissing, his temper boiling over, Hakuryuu yanked the plug out of a register. “Oh no! I’m committing theft! Someone come arrest me!” Nothing. He piled his arms with snacks and drinks, staring directly into a security camera before leaving the way he came, without a single consequence. 

This could be a ‘last man on earth’ type scenario. Or a very real dream. He pinched himself several times to make sure. Unfortunately, he didn’t wake up. Abandoning the stolen snacks on the sidewalk, he kept only a large 99 cent Arizona iced tea, continuing on his trek. The journey didn’t last long; halfway down the following block, he walked head-first into what must have been an invisible brick wall. Groaning, he stumbled back, giving it another try a few seconds later. In the end, he accomplished nothing, but spilled his drink down his shirt quite a bit. 

He was trapped, by someone or something. He was alone, unarmed, and possibly losing his mind. 

Feeling defeated, Hakuryuu trudged back to the house that was, by default, technically his. Maybe he had died in his sleep, and this was what hell looked like; an upper middle class suburban neighborhood.

If there was a mysterious force determined to cause him harm, he might as well be prepared. In the kitchen, he was pleased to find a whole knife block. A sharp object or twelve never hurt. He filled the pockets of his khakis strapping one to his prosthetic like a bayonet; robocop probably wished he was Hakuryuu Ren. Hell, the Terminator would be jealous of his knife-arm combo. Using a fruit knife, he peeled and ate several of the mangos in the fruit bowl, finding they weren’t half bad. 

As he finally began to get used to the utter surreality of the world around him, Hakuryuu realized a defining factor of the environment. It hit him as he took a renewed look around, each strategically placed item so painfully perfect, so obviously staged, that whoever, or whatever, had designed the space had no idea how human beings actually lived their lives. This was the dollhouse of a hermit who had lived away from society his entire life, watched two episodes of iCarly and/or Friends, and promptly been asked to describe a typical human household. 

It was a sickening thought, but made a revolting degree of sense. He was narrowing down options. He sipped at the last of his iced tea, mulling over the evidence, his anger quieting and diluting, all his mental energies re-focused on defining a culprit. The funds and technology for this kind of project reeked of something government, but a human government knew its citizens better than anything. 

A human government. Right, any normal person would instantly see a thousand mistakes in the world Hakuryuu found himself trapped. So that left him with… he shook his head, refusing to consider it. If aliens did exist, why would they bother themselves with species so lowly as humankind, after all? 

There was a bulky tag attached to his left ankle. In the confusion, he hadn’t noticed it, but just as he was settling, the weight of it became instantly obvious. Lifting his leg, he twisted it about, finding nothing but scratchy symbols that could only be either an embarrassing death metal band font or an alien language. At a complete loss, Hakuryuu distracted himself by chucking his knives at the wall one at a time, five of them actually sticking in the plaster. Literally nothing he did could have any consequence, apparently.

While the freezer was packed tightly with frozen water bottles, the fridge itself harbored actual food. Now he’d know what to do if he actually got hungry. The backyard was a tame, fenced in area, housing a swing set and an uncovered hot tub. The fence was tall, whitewashed, and virtually unscalable. Hakuryuu gave up after four tries, resorting to throwing clumps of dirt over it. At least he was alone, or so it seemed, with no mother or siblings around to pester him. Counting one’s small blessings was important in life.

***  
Voiceover, translated: As you see here, humans typically sleep on beds like this one. Bipedal and curious creatures, we can watch as this particular specimen wanders its habitat, investigating individual objects. A human’s balance is extraordinary, remaining upright even when undertaking a flight of stairs. 

[Garbled noise from human]

Voiceover: These vocalizations may not seem like much to you or I, but to humans, these crude noises form the backbone of their society; communication. Humans feel such a strong need to communicate that they will even begin speaking if no one is present to hear them.

[Unintelligible]

Voiceover: Humans are extraordinarily hardy creatures. This one has been through a lot. Damaged tissues take up most of its skin, and though it is missing a limb, it can move around just fine. Interestingly, it bears other markings as well. Not visible through its clothing, the specimen has likely undergone ritual or medical procedure to remove its own breast tissues. The reason for this is still unknown, though this level of dexterity shows how truly nimble the human animal can be. It is believed that humans are the most potentially adaptable animal in the whole universe. 

[Noises, garbled shouting]

Voiceover: This is the peculiar manner in which humans forage. For purposes yet to be discovered, it will produce slips of paper, perhaps an offering of thanks to a deity, before gathering pre-packaged eating materials. Humans will eat nearly anything, from other animals, to plants, to even semi-toxic chemicals. Human beings can also resist practically any hardship, from wind chill, to fatal illness, to weather conditions above their internal body temperature.

[Jump cut]

Voiceover: Humans inspect their organic food carefully, using their powerful opposable thumbs in eating. This one has fantastic knowledge of simple tools, in this case, using a knife to peel away the green skin of a fruit to get at the orange insides. What a fascinating creature!

***

After three days, Hakuryuu had settled into a routine. He woke up, showered, administered his shot, and began to tear apart the fence in the backyard. It was made of a thick, rubbery wood, and like the windows, couldn’t be damaged with any degree of ease, but he found that by hitting it directly with the cash register from the mini mart, the pickets began to splinter. 

Once he grew tired of this, or just too sweaty to keep going, he spent the rest of his day wandering the fake neighborhood, looking for cracks in the set-up, foraging in the other houses for better food. Whatever had crafted the simulation had made absolutely sure there was no way out, no glitch in the system. However, he did stumble upon a cache of bacon in one of the freezers, and boy did it feel humanizing to cook something again. 

On the fourth morning, he woke up covered in sweat. It was swelteringly hot in the little bedroom, the walls seeming to radiate oven-like heat. Groaning, he tore of the blankets, and his shirt and pants for good measure. Now only wearing boxers, he ran down to the kitchen, pressing two of the frozen water bottles against his burning skin. Either this was an experiment, or they were trying to kill him. The water bottles thawed all too quickly, and he downed them both with gusto. In either case, the best he could do was survive.

It was even worse outside, the tar on the pavement melting, the grass already brittle and dry. Was there a single building with air conditioning? He needed a solution, or he would surely be cooked alive. If there was a cold pool, he could take shelter in the water, but the only pool in the immediate vicinity was heated. Maybe he could make his own cold water. Gathering all the water bottles, he spirited them up to the bathroom before any of them could melt, using his knife to split the plastic casing and dump the tubes of ice into the bathtub. He stuffed a towel under the bathroom door, trapping the cool air within. 

After long hours, the heat faded, but it continued to drop, plummeting well below zero. Hakuryuu fought this by turning on his oven and leaving the door open, dressing in four or five layers. He was getting the hang of this survival thing. Now, as soon as he broke through the fence, he could probably find a way to truly escape his confinement. Did his captors know they were training him in adaptability? 

The next day he experienced an new, even more bizarre change. He woke to find that every tv was switched on, turned to full volume, and playing nonstop porn. Now there were magazines in the convenience store, but all of them contained porn, and nothing else. While it was perplexing, Hakuryuu, for the life of him, couldn’t figure out why. It wasn’t even the good kind of porn; all of it was straight, all the actors were white, and the acting was laughable at best. At worst, downright intolerable, but as Hakuryuu would discover, there was no escape from it. Anywhere he turned, there was a television, a radio, broadcasting poorly directed adult films. 

Since they weren’t directly impeding him, Hakuryuu went back to the fence. He needed an excuse to get back to work anyway, bludgeoning the wooden boards. 

No, he realized, this wasn’t as effective as he thought it would be. But he did have a new plan. Turning the oven back on, he placed a thick stack of porn magazines in a skillet, holding them inside until they caught a spark. Whatever they had been placed in his habitat for, it probably wasn’t this; fire had been nearly the end of him once, but as he torched the fence with his blazing Playboys, he awakened a newfound respect for it. 

But what was that? The sound of… a voice?

As the fence fell down in a puff of ash and blackened wood, Hakuryuu came face-to-face with what looked like another human, poised himself to throw a metal folding chair at the fence. “Thank fucking god, I’ve been trying to break this thing all day!” The man proclaimed, dumping the chair at his feet. 

Hakuryuu shook his head, slowly. “Are you… real?”

“Of course I’m real!” The man straightened up, looking disgusted. “Are you?”

Bursting into sick laughter, Hakuryuu backed away, taking in the man’s appearance. He was wearing actual pajamas, a pink tee-shirt and boxers, and his feet were bare. His eyes, which were a funny reddish-brownish color, still bore a film of sleepy confusion. “Yeah, I’m real. At least, I think so.” He gingerly stepped over the remains of the fence, offering his prosthetic arm. “Hakuryuu Ren, it’s nice to meet you. Or see another person.”

A silky smile grew on his face as he took Hakuryuu’s hand, shaking lightly. “Judal. So you’re sure this is real and I’m not just super high or something like that?”

“No, no, I’m positive. I’ve been here for a few days now. You?”

“Well last night I went to sleep, and now I’m here. What is this thing?” He lifted his ankle, shaking the bracelet about. 

“I think it’s identification. Or tracking, or something. If you come sit down with me, I’ll tell you everything I know.” Normally, Hakuryuu wasn’t the best at introductions, but being so starved for interaction made this feel like a blessing. A real, actual human being… who wasn’t too bad looking, either. 

Judal shrugged. “Eh, nothing better to do. What the hell. Got any snacks?”

While Judal ate all the peaches out of the fruit drawer in the fridge, Hakuryuu laid out the facts. It was a simulation, probably not made by human hands, and that so far, there was no way to escape. But two heads were definitely better than one, so if he couldn’t do it alone, at least now he had someone on his side. 

Judal turned, squinting at the television. “What’s with all the porn?”

“I didn’t put it on!” Hakuryuu flushed. “I think it’s their doing, but I can’t figure out why yet.”

Taking a thoughtful bite of peach, a thin line of juice streaking down his chin, Judal seemed to contemplate something. “Have you ever seen The Truman Show? It’s about this guy who’s trapped in like, a simulation of his own life, and it gets broadcast on TV and shit. Maybe it’s like that, maybe this is just a weird reality show. Or a fucked up documentary.”

He hadn’t thought of that. “If it was, wouldn’t there be cameras?”

“Sure, just hidden somewhere real good.” Judal took another bite, his tongue swiping across his lower lip. He had a very pretty mouth, thought Hakuryuu, absently. 

“Of course, yeah.” Hakuryuu paced in a circle around the room, giving every square inch a close examination until he reached the television. At the bottom, near the power button, lurked the tiny eye of a camera. Taking up a knife, Hakuryuu grit his teeth, jabbing the opening viciously. 

Though there was no immediate effect, Judal soon spoke up from the couch. “Uh, that’s kind of hot. What you’re doing... Can I help?” He asked, in a way that made it clear those were words he didn’t normally use.

Hakuryuu blushed, but stood to the side. “Yeah, alright.”

“Hold it really still.” Once Hakuryuu had the knife sufficiently pressed against the the camera, Judal grabbed the TV remote, bashing the knife handle like a sculptor carving a block of marble. On the fifth attempt, his hand slipped a little, brushing against Hakuryuu’s. 

Where he touched, Hakuryuu’s skin prickled. He flinched back, both alarmed and pleased. “I’m sorry, I just haven’t touched another person’s skin in a while. It feels nice, just…”

Judal blinked, eyes widening. “Neither have I. That was-” He interrupted himself, taking Hakuryuu’s hand and pressing it into his cheek. His heartbeat fluttering in his wrist, Hakuryuu swallowed, relishing in the simple contact. Suddenly, he knew just what the porn was for. 

Now the choice was, did he play into it? Or defy the script of the show? Wordlessly, he stepped closer, shyly letting their eyes meet. “What are you doing?” Judal wrinkled his nose, but it was clear he was following along. Hakuryuu felt he didn’t need to answer. His body was crying for some kind of touch, and who was he to deny it?

Judal visibly began to feel the same. “But.” He reached up, stroking the side of Hakuryuu’s neck. “Don’t you think this is what they want us to do? Why are we going along with it?”

“We’ll be able to think more clearly afterward. Plus I want to. Do you?”

Judal snorted. “Who would I be to say no? You’re the hottest guy I’ve seen in recent memory. Just one thing-”

“I’m trans, by the way.” Hakuryuu paused, waiting for an answer.

“Oh! That was actually my thing. So me too.” 

The relief was swiftly replaced by a powerful feeling of need. Hakuryuu had always had a difficult time distinguishing his needs and wants; just then, his need for skinship was just as powerful as the need for water or air. He frantically discarded his clothes, pleased to find Judal doing the same. Judal smirked when he saw how close Hakuryuu was watching, running his hands down over his lightly muscled abdomen to pull his boxers away. “Come on Hakuryuu, are you just going to watch or are we going to do what comes naturally?”

“I don’t know,” Hakuryuu murmured teasingly, taking a few steps in the other direction, “should we? If you want me you’ll have to prove it.” On nearly every nature documentary he’d ever seen, one party would give the other a real run for their money when it came time to breed. They were going for accuracy, right? He flashed Judal a grin, hoping he would catch on as he turned, dashing out the front door. Public nudity wasn’t exactly a crime anymore, was it?

It didn’t take long for Judal to catch up to Hakuryuu, tailing him through a few lawns, around the mini-mart, and into another backyard before finally tackling him down in the grass. “Did you think you could get away?” Judal puffed, out of breath, grinning.

“Hm. Maybe I did.” Hakuryuu laughed, still attempting to squirm away. What was it the narrator usually said around this time? “If we’re going to yield the next generation of humans, I need to make sure you’re up to snuff. I can be choosy.”

While Judal considered this, Hakuryuu slipped away, his heart racing. He wished Judal would actually catch him. For the brief time he was underneath Judal, arousal reared its head within him, until all he could think about was the act itself. Judal stumbled back to his feet, just as excited. “I’m the most fertile human on the planet! You want these genes!” He insisted, semi-jokingly.

“Impress me, why don’t you?” Hakuryuu shot back. “Why don’t you build me a nest or go beat someone up to show how tough you are?”

Judal took a few steps closer, and Hakuryuu had time to fully appreciate his body, from the symmetrical scars on his chest, to his long, elegant legs, right up to a neat triangle of dark hair between them. “Or we could just fuck. I mean, who wants to wait for me to build a nest? And last time I checked, I’ve got no rivals.”

“Well, you could always do a mating dance. That is the primary human breeding ritual. Or send me a really hi-def picture of your genitals, that works too.” He couldn’t help laughing. Sometimes the most amusing things were the truest to life. 

“Nah, that’s exactly the kind of person we need to leave out here. The earth needs way less of that type.” Judal scoffed. 

Hakuryuu stopped backing away. “Those are the magic words, I surrender.” He was mostly tired of waiting for it. Together, they went down again onto the grass, Judal kissing him deeply. He really held nothing back, thought Hakuryuu, his fuzzy brain diverting his actions to pure instinct. Rolling them over, Hakuryuu rutted against Judal’s smooth thigh, keeping him pinned back with both hands. His face turning rapidly pink, Judal lifted his leg, the angle aiding Hakuryuu’s downward movements.

“Fuck, this is cute.” Judal huffed, stopping Hakuryuu’s hips to touch his aching clit. “How long have you been on T?”

“About seven months,” Hakuryuu murmured, pressing into Judal’s hand, “you?”

“Four years.” Judal flipped them again, hooking one leg over Hakuryuu’s, bending them to fit together at the hips. Neither of them could manage penetration, but the slick feeling, Judal’s swollen clit thrust up against his, was more than he could’ve asked for. 

At first he tried to be quiet, but where just Judal’s cheek on the back of his hand was a dream come true, being fucked into the ground was mind-numbing bliss. He gasped, the sound morphing into a loud moan. “Judal, don’t stop!” He might weep if Judal so much as slowed down. 

“Why w-would I?” Judal panted raggedly, “I haven’t even gotten to the good part!”

“Good.” Hakuryuu yanked him back into a kiss, using his thick braid to keep him locked in the embrace, forcing it deeper until Judal was moaning right into his mouth. His hips faltered and jerked, but a tug against his scalp kept him moving, faster than before. 

Was he enjoying himself too much? Probably, but what did it matter anymore? They were only animals now, after all. With all his strength, Hakuryuu mustered a terrific show of dominance, knocking Judal backwards off him and scrambling up to straddle his chest. Judal cried, dismayed, a stunned expression on his face, but before he could question him, Hakuryuu bent low over his body. “Judal, I think we all know how things work in the animal kingdom. And I think it’s time I asserted myself.”

Judal purred, lying back. “I like where this is going, yes. What are you gonna do to me?”

Burying his fingers in Judal’s loose hair, Hakuryuu scooted up over his body, until he could feel hot breath against his clit. “I think the question is more, what are you going to do for me?”

Judal eagerly raised his head the rest of the way, meeting Hakuryuu’s soaked, twitching arousal. Hakuryuu squirmed, yanking at his hair, and obediently, Judal sucked his clit further between his lips, flickering his tongue against the tip. Groaning appreciatively, he kept still, letting Judal really get to work; he wasn’t just performing, he was striving, eating him out like there was an award riding on it. 

“Shit, you’re good at this.” Too good. Whatever he was doing, Hakuryuu’s legs started to shake, threatening to give out. “Judal-”

Judal hummed, pulling back. “What? You want me for something?”

“I want you to keep going!” He tugged him back, his breathing growing deeper, heavier. His climax popped like a firecracker, and losing his balance, he slumped, twitching, onto the grass, curling up into a ball. 

When his ears finally stopped ringing, his vision clearing, he stretched, slowly pulling himself up into a sitting position. Judal, meanwhile, was giggling. “That was kind of amazing, but also the weirdest hook-up I’ve ever had. It was insane. In a good way!”

Hakuryuu snorted, brushing bits of dried grass off his legs and out of his hair. “You think? I’m somehow honored. Now do you want our clothes back or do you want to escape naked, like they do in block busters sometimes?”

“Hey, there’s merit in escaping nude! No one can grab your clothes!” 

“I was joking! We are not doing that.” Hakuryuu rolled his eyes, standing on wobbly legs. Running and climax had taken a lot out of him. “For now we need a solid plan.”

“I’ll leave that to you, I’m more of an impromptu fast action guy.” Judal undid his braid, fixing it as they walked. “If we get attacked by any aliens while we’re making our getaway, that’s when I’ll do my part.” 

“Like I was saying, we need a plan. For now, I say we just try to rest and gather supplies.” Once they reached ‘Hakuryuu’s’ house, he was glad to pull his clothes back on. In the heat of the moment, it had seemed perfectly natural to strip, but once it was over, being covered up was a relief. “Was there anything suspicious on your side of the simulation?”

Judal slithered back into his shirt. “Not that I can think of. I didn’t really get a chance to explore though.”

Settling on the couch, re-buttoning his shirt, Hakuryuu lapsed into deep thought. While his head did feel more clear, some part of him recognized the mounting impossibility of the task they were about to undertake. “There has to be a door, right? How else would they come in and change the food and leave porn everywhere?” The television, thankfully, was silent now. “They must do it while we’re sleeping.”

“Oh, it’s easy then! We just pretend we’re asleep!” Judal grinned, proudly. “Maybe we fuck something up, go to ‘sleep’ armed to the teeth, and when they come in to fix it, we jump em!”

Hakuryuu nodded. “But we’d have to prepare without alerting the cameras. Just to be safe, we should get rid of these.” He gestured to his ankle. “I have a hunch they could track us using them. Our best bet is to detach them, but make it seem like they’re still on properly. That way we can throw them away when it’s time to make a break for it.” Still impossible, sure, but at least they had a plan. 

Working together, they destroyed as much of the house as they could. After ripping apart the furniture, toppling every set of shelves and dumping most of the food in the hot tub, they took turns blocking the living room camera while the other sawed at the ankle bracelet. When that was taken care of, the knives hidden in Hakuryuu’s waistband, they laid down together on the fluff they’d torn from the couch, closed their eyes and waited.

It took a lot longer than expected for anything to show its face. Hakuryuu began to wonder if they’d been found out after all. Besides, Judal was fidgeting uncontrollably at his side, clenching and unclenching his fists. He was nervous, most likely, and just didn’t want to say anything. Snaking his hand down, Hakuryuu slipped it into Judal’s, giving what he hoped was a soothing squeeze. Would he give Judal a call after this? Most likely. You don’t go through something like this with a guy and then forget about him. 

***

Hakuryuu opened his eyes, coming out of a deep sleep cursing himself. He really tried not to actually fall asleep, but as things were he’d been very worn out, and Judal’s presence made him feel just safe enough to relax. Evidently, that was a mistake. Wherever he was now, it was pitch black, a low humming underneath him, and no one at his side. Shivering, he curled up, tucking his knees to his chest. “... Judal?”

“Over here.” Came an answering whisper, sounding in the darkness a few feet to his left. Hakuryuu shifted, crawling slowly across the metal floor until they found each other. Like animals made blind by evolution and time, they reached for each other, carefully mapping out the outlines of their bodies. Made silent by fear, Hakuryuu crumpled into his arms. Things seemed less frightening in the simulation, where the sun was out and everything was almost normal. Here it was nightmarish. Nothing was certain anymore. 

“There are bars.” Judal whispered. “We’re in a cage. I think. I’ve been awake for a while and no one’s come in.”

Hakuryuu hid his face in the crook of Judal’s neck. “What do you think they’ll do to us?”

“I don’t know. That’s the worst part.”

Hakuryuu felt a trail of hot tears fall from his cheek onto Judal’s neck. “Shit. I’m crying on you.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry about that.” Judal murmured. “I don’t mind-”

A door creaked slowly open, filling the space with thick yellow light. Right about then, Hakuryuu’s brain simply shut off, unable to process the creature that entered the room. It had to be an alien. He struggled to put together words to describe it, even just for himself, but the thing was too fantastic, too weird beyond all reasoning, that when Hakuryuu considered how to explain it, his mind went for an extended vacation. 

It spoke in a voice that wasn’t a voice. More of a static ringing, like the high-pitched whine of the universe. “Specimens 4 and 6, you are ready for deposit back in your home environment.”

It was Judal that managed to speak first. “Are you gonna hurt us?”

The thing laughed. Or probably laughed. “Of course not, little one. Humans are an endangered animal, only found on one planet. Your kind are invaluable. We thank you for providing such interesting data. As an elder species, it is our duty to conserve and protect species like yours. Where would you both like to be dropped off?”

“Together, i-if that’s alright.” Hakuryuu stuttered. “I live in Portland.”

“Oregon?”

“No, no, Maine. Judal?”

Judal shrugged. “I live here and there. Maybe going with you would be my best shot.”

He nodded. “We’d both like to be dropped off in Portland, Maine. Just because I’m curious, what was all of that for?”

The being made the almost-laughing noise again. “Scientific research, but our people also enjoy what you call ‘nature shows’ on your planet. We’ll edit the footage of your time in the simulation and broadcast it. With narration, of course.”

They’d gotten pretty close to the truth after all. As the humming around them grew softer, Hakuryuu wiped his tears, leaning fully back into Judal’s arms.


End file.
